Plants!

Finally, after all this "gardening" I just now get around to putting plants in the ground!

Since I didn't get the raised beds filled soon enough, my tomato plants had gotten out of control.
The raised bed is 4 feet wide, so you can see that the tomato plant is nearly 3 feet long already.
Good thing tomatoes have a trick up their sleeves... well, that is if they had sleeves... or arms for that matter.
Anyway, most plants will promptly die if you plant them too deep. If too much of their stem is buried they suffocate. But not tomatoes... they thrive! You know those little hairs they have on their stem? If planted underground, those spots will sprout roots only making the plant stronger and more stable. Magical I know! I guess some pepper plants can also be planted a little bit deeper, but don't even try it with any other type of plant. Consider yourself warned.

So here is the tomato in it's own gigantic hole. He got so long that more than 3/4 of the seedling will end up underground. Since I didn't want to dig a hole half way to China, the tomato will actually lay horizontal in the hole. You can see from the picture below that the tomato only ends up being about 4 inches tall. (It is the plant in the middle of the four silver posts.) Hopefully he will be much happier now that he has room!

The three plants on the left are cucumbers. They will grow up that trellis. Don't tell him, but I may need to thin out that middle one if all three end up surviving. Poor guy. All the other little green sprouts you see in there are baby marigolds. Hopefully they will grow up and protect the tomatoes and cucumbers from pesky bugs. Marigolds are a natural pest deterrent!

Here are the artichokes! I have never seen fully matured artichokes, but I guess they can get up to 6 feet in diameter! I don't think mine will grow that big as they are an annual in this climate. I expect they will get around 3 feet wide. That fifth one in the middle may need to be thinned if they get too big.
Aren't they cute!

Here is an update on the hops: they have officially reached the top of the poles and started their horizontal climb. They are probably about 12 feet long! You can also see garden-dog Eva. She keeps a close eye on everything while I garden, especially flying bugs and butterflies which she likes to chase.

And here she is again, below, posing by the newly transplanted Sweet William. I swear she could be a dog model. I know the Sweet William look a little scraggly. I had them crowded in a container from last summer since they are bi-annuals. (Meaning they last two years... don't ask me how that works.)












Here (below) are the garlic... if you look close you can see some curly parts. Those are the "scapes" that will turn into flowers if left alone. According to internet research, the experts are torn on whether or not cutting them off produces bigger bulbs. Evidently the scapes are pretty tasty if you saute them up! We may just have to find out...

And last but not least, here are the acorn squash. Originally I was only going to plant two, but since I left them in their tiny seed containers for too long they were kind of sad looking. So I planted four to be on the safe side in case a couple don't make it.
















The only problem? We still have a good 1/4 of the pile of top soil sitting in our driveway! I'm thinking I may just have to build the asparagus bed this year so we have some place to put all that dirt! I just happen to be free this weekend.... honey?